Baby gifts

We finally got our baby registries done this weekend. If you'd like to take a look at them, follow these links:

Our Target registry

Our Babies "R" Us registry

Thanks a bundle (of joy)!

This week: Beat those Wildcats! Next week: Go Wildcats!

(By Erik)

I never thought I’d be this disappointed after a Georgia Bulldogs win.

That’s right, the Dawgs finished their SEC season 6-2 with a hard-fought-yet-convincing 24-13 win over 23rd-ranked Kentucky. That puts Georgia temporarily in first place in the SEC East (despite losing to South Carolina and being destroyed by Tennessee earlier in the season).

So why am I disappointed? It’s all because of Vandy.

The Vanderbilt Commodores could have sealed the SEC East in Georgia’s favor with a win over Tennessee today. And, shortly after Georgia’s win, the score was 23-9 with Vandy on top. But, alas, the Commodores managed to rip defeat from the jaws of victory, losing to Tennessee 24-23.

So, the Bulldog nation will be rooting for — guess who — Kentucky next week as they take on the Vols. A win by the Wildcats will send Georgia to the SEC championship game against top-ranked LSU. The game that Georgia actually plays next weekend almost will be a sideshow. It’s our annual rivalry game with Georgia Tech. Since Tech is in the ACC, it’s a non-conference game and it doesn’t factor into who goes to the SEC championship. (So the Bulldogs could lose and still go to the championship if the Wildcats win.)

Here in Sooner land, most of the OU fans have been rooting for Georgia as well. They think that Georgia has a better chance of beating LSU than Tennessee, thus helping OU edge its way into the national title game.

Of course, looking at the score of the OU-Texas Tech game right now … that may not be an issue anymore!

More shameless self-promotion

(By Erik)

If you've got a minute, please click on over to christianchronicle.org.

Tamie just posted the story I wrote about Ghana. We've included additional photos that didn't appear in print and haven't appeared on this blog. (Plus, I think it's a good story, too — but I'm biased.)

Please take a look if you haven't read it yet. Or, if you have read it, go directily to the online gallery.

I'd like to know where you got the Knowshon ...

(By Erik)

It's another busy press weekend, but I'd like to take just a second to say GO DAWGS!

The Bulldogs gave a pounding to Auburn today — a 45-20 victory. A big part of that was redshirt freshman Knowshon Moreno, who had another 100-yard game.

The Bulldogs also donned black jerseys for the first time in the modern era. Luckily, I had a black Georgia ball cap for the occasion.

Here's a photo of us taken Sunday afternoon (by pointing a camera at a mirror and flipping the image in PhotoShop). Yes, this also is the long-awaited, real-live pregnant picture.

The world comes to our doorstep

(By Erik)


All the reports I'm hearing about this year's World Mission Workshop indicate that it was a big success. It was my first experience serving on the steering committee for an event of this magnitude, so I'm absolutely thrilled. The real stars of the event, in my opinion, were the dedicated, mission-minded students who attended.


I don't have the final count on number of attendees, but we had close to 1,000 (including Oklahoma Christian students and other local guests) at the event. We also had several visitors from overseas.


Allen Thompson, left, gathers with students who have committed to work in Africa. Allen is a native of Ethiopia.


Bob Carpenter, a missions professor at Oklahoma Christian, was the main coordinator for the event. He did an amazing job. To his right is Peter Cariaga, who served as emcee for the keynote sessions.


G'day! How about this for an Australian-themed photo? Frank Cunningham is a minister in a suburb of Sydney. He was in town speaking at the workshop and visiting with Kent and Nancy Hartman, former missionaries to downunder.


Look at this session! Mark Hooper, a longtime missionary to India, talked about Muslim evangelism and had a huge turnout. The most incredible thing about this photo is that it was taken at 2 p.m. on a Saturday — with beautiful weather outside. The students costantly amazed me by showing interest in all of the sessions and classes.


We hosted a special Sudan interest group lunch during the workshop. Here's Ken Grimm and his wife, Gracie, at the lunch. The Grimms have been active in mission work among Darfur refugees living in the Nuba mountains in Sudan. A good number of students attended the lunch and stayed after to talk to the Grimms.


At the workshop, we also hosted a special screening of "God Grew Tired of Us," a National Geographic documentary about refugees from the war in Sudan (often called "Lost Boys") and the adjustments they had to make when they were resettled in the United States. The film was absolutely amazing. We had a packed house, and there were plenty of laughs and tears throughout. What really made the experience great is that we had John Gak (center) with us. He's a native of Sudan who has helped the Lost Boys for many years through an organization he started — Brothers Organization for Relief (BOR). It shares it's name with Bor county in Sudan, wher John Gak grew up. With him are Calvin Bailey, a member of the Swope Parkway Church of Christ in Kansas City, Mo., which supports BOR, and Lloyd Deal, a member at Memorial Road who has worked in Africa and knows John Gak.


Samuel Twumasi, minister for the Nsawam Road Church of Christ in Accra, Ghana, spoke during the workshop. It's hard to tell in this photo, but the conservatory where he spoke was packed. Students were lining the wall in the back.


Here's Sam praying with a student as the final keynote session concludes.


Here's me and Sam at the Memorial Road church. (You'll notice I'm celebrating Georgia's victory over Florida.)


In case you haven't seen it yet, here's Oklahoma Christian's new pavilion and clock tower.

Half-hearted attempt at a post ...

(By Erik)

It was a very good weekend.

I’m not just saying that because the Georgia Bulldogs beat the Florida Gators — although that certainly didn’t hurt.

This past weekend Oklahoma Christian University hosted the World Mission Workshop, an annual missions conference that bounces from campus to campus of the Christian universities. I was on the steering committee, and we’ve been working on the details since last year.

Several of the speakers at this year’s conference were people I’ve met since I started working at The Christian Chronicle.

OK, I had a lot more to say on this, but I’m really tired. I’ll post some photos later.

Suffering for doing good

(By Erik)

I’ve been meaning to post some photos from my trip to Ghana back in August. This Sunday I’m teaching the college class at Memorial Road, and I’m including some photos with the slides. So I thought I would snip out a few excerpts and post them with some photos here. Enjoy.


Do you believe that there is such a thing as “good suffering?” How many of you have been on a mission trip? I believe anyone who’s done any sort of mission work can relate to the concept of “good suffering.” Whether it’s waiting in an airport terminal for a flight that’s had to be rerouted 14 times, or riding 14 hours in a bus to reach the people you’re going to help, mission trips and suffering just seem to go together.

And of course, the suffering you witness almost always is greater than the suffering you endure.

You’re looking at a few pictures from the trip I took to Ghana back in August. I visited a brand new Christian school out in extreme western Ghana. A guy named Augustine, who was working on his master’s degree at Lipscomb when I was there doing my undergraduate degree, is from this village and he returned home last year to set up this school — to give kids in his village the chance for Christian education that he didn’t have.



When I took photos of the kids in the village, called Sefwi-Debiso, I’d turn the camera around and let them see the image in the camera’s preview pane. They went nuts, screaming and laughing. They don’t get many visitors from the United States, so they followed us around, yelling “Bruni! Bruni.” (That means “white person” in the local language, Twi.)


We also went by The Village of Hope on our way back to the capital, Accra. They get a lot more visitors there. I took this kid’s picture, showed him the preview, and he just kind of nodded, almost as if to say, “Yeah, that’s great. What is that, six megapixels? Yeah, you know Canon’s new model has a much faster shutter speed.”


I don’t usually get in the photos myself, but this kid’s name was Eric, so I handed off the camera, handed Eric my Bulldogs hat and smiled. After the photo he started to hand the hat back to me, so I let him keep it.


There’s widespread poverty across the African continent, as I’m sure you know. This was the fourth time I’ve traveled to Africa, and it always strikes me as odd that these children are so woefully unaware of how impoverished they are. There’s a huge level of suffering in Africa — you see it everywhere. But someone forgot to tell that to the kids!

These first verses that we’re going to look at tonight remind me of the kids I met in Ghana and other African nations:

1 Peter 3:8-9

8 Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble. 9 Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.

“Do not repay evil with evil.” That’s much easier said than done. Compassion and humility are hard traits to come by, but traveling to Africa is a good start. I always learn a lot more from the African people than they learn from me.

All human life is suffering, and when our goal becomes the removal or avoidance of suffering, we fail. Peter tells us that we must accept that suffering is a reality, and all we can do in this life is to live the best life we can for Christ.

Peter is particularly interested in assuring that when people face inevitable suffering it will be “good suffering.” When you do suffer, make sure it’s for the right reasons. Don’t give anyone the chance to say that you’re suffering for your bad deeds. Show them that you are a model citizen in every other respect — except for doing the sinful things they do. When they ask you why you’re not like them, don’t be afraid to answer.

1 Peter 3:15-18

15 But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, 16 keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. 17 It is better, if it is God's will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. 18 For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit,

Around the globe we have a number of modern-day servants who are suffering for doing good. A few years ago I found out through a Christian in Australia about a work he was supporting in Somalia in East Africa. You may remember Somalia from the ill-fated military operation we took part in there in the early 1990s. We were trying to help the people, but the warlords set up an ambush and we suffered several losses. I sincerely believe that what happened to us in Somalia kept us from intervening during the genocide that followed a few years later in Rwanda.

Today Somalia still is without a central government. People are living hand to mouth. For a while the capital, Mogadishu was under the rule of a group called the Islamic courts, which tried to implement Shariah law.

And in the middle of this tangled mess there’s a man named Abdul. I got in touch with him through e-mail and we started corresponding. He was converted through a Bible correspondence course and now preaches for a small Church of Christ in Mogadishu. He runs a small Christian school there, too. His life is constantly in jeopardy in a country that is completely without law, but he maintains his faith.

His story seemed too good to be true, so I was real skeptical when I started corresponding with him. He met with some of our brothers and sisters in Ethiopia, and they vouched for him. He even called me once from his cell phone in Mogadishu, and for the whole conversation I’m wondering, “Is this guy for real?” Then I heard a speaker crackle to life behind him, calling Muslims to prayer. His next-door neighbor runs a mosque, he told me.

One of the key reasons I believe that Abdul is sincere is that he hasn’t asked me for any money. I keep waiting for it to happen, but all he really seems to want are prayers from the church — prayers for safety and prayers to help him spread the gospel in Somalia.

A few weeks ago he finally did ask me for something else. Here’s an excerpt from his e-mail:

“We also would like to let you know that we need you to report us any prayers required by the troubled brethren around the world so that we may share the suffering with them.”

A man surrounded by suffering that I can’t even imagine ask only for prayers — and to pray for his fellow believers around the world. I don’t know that I’ll ever have the chance to meet Abdul face to face, but I know I’ll see him someday in heaven.

'Angry kicks, oh let them never ...'

(By Erik)

As we've said before, Maggie likes to kick — a lot.

She’s particularly fond of kicking about 3 a.m. every morning. We’re guessing it’s a sign of things to come.

She also reacts to voices. When Dr. Alan Martin was teaching a parenting class for a couple of weeks at Memorial Road, she went nuts, moving all over the place excitedly.

When we found some discount baby clothes at Dillard’s a couple of weeks ago, she started rolling for joy (prompting me to believe that she’s actually reacting to her mother’s emotions).

When Jeanie was on call the other day, she went to see a premature baby in the NICU. While she was looking at the baby, she felt several angry kicks from down south. Later, while looking at photos of a coworker’s baby, the kicks started again.

Feels like our little girl has some jealousy issues.

By the way, that last story, when retold, prompted Carol, a member of our Bible study group, to say, “I don’t believe half of the things you’re telling me about that baby.”

Angry kicks, oh let them never
In the womb, unbridled slip
May the foot's best impulse ever
Check them ere' they strike mom's hip

More posts a'comin', promise!

(By Erik)

Why no posts in so long? Here's a list of stuff I've gotta' do this week:

• Finish up story on Let's Start Talking ministry
• Revise profile of Gayle Crowe, who works for World Christian Broadcasting
• Finish up my "Around the World" page
• Find out whether or not we have any church connections to Burma
• Write two profiles for the mrcc.org Web site
• Learn Spanish
• Get house ready for World Mission Workshop guests
• Go to 7 a.m. meeting, which I'm about to be late for!
• Stop ending sentences with "for"
• Call my mom
• Finally catch road runner
• Get new parking sticker
• Watch "The Office" (9 p.m. UPDATE: Done)

'Love keeps growing more love'

(By Erik)

Caedmon’s Call, easily my favorite Christian band, put out a new album recently, titled “Overdressed.” The album marks the return of Derek Webb to Caedmon’s. He left the group a few albums back to pursue a solo career. The album also marks the band’s return, more or less, to its coffeehouse roots.

I have to admit I’m a bit disappointed with the album, which sounds like it should have been titled “Overcrowded.” Over the years, the biggest complaint music critics have had with the band is that, because of Caedmon’s insistence on three alternating lead vocalists, its albums have no unified sound.

With Webb’s return, the band now has FOUR lead vocalists. In addition to Cliff and Danielle Young, “Overdressed” features many songs with vocals by Andrew Osenga, who was brought in to replace Webb after his departure. Though a gifted songwriter, Osenga lacks the vocal strength of Webb. It seems like you can hear Osenga’s voice on almost every track — backing or lead vocals. I would have preferred less of Osenga’s voice and more of Webb’s. As it is, Webb’s contributions to “Overdressed” seem more like guest appearances than the work of a guy who has rejoined the band.

Nonetheless, there are some real gems on this album. “Two Weeks in Africa” is easily my favorite song, harkening back to what I consider the band’s greatest work, the world music-influenced “Share the Well.”

But the song that means the most to me right now is “Love Grows Love” (which, like “Two Weeks in Africa,” was written by Osenga).

For the past 10 years Caedmon’s Call has produced songs that speak almost directly to where I am in my life. When I was single and unsure of my future I took great comfort in Webb’s “Table for Two,” a song off Caedmon’s “40 Acres” album. (“Because I’m so scared of being alone, that I forget what house I live in … And you know the plans you have for me, and you can’t plan the ends and not plan the means …”)

Webb got married just a few years before I met Jeanie, and he wrote some great songs about relationships and commitment.

Here are some of the lyrics from “Love Grows Love.” It’s pretty easy to see why these words mean a lot to me right now. (Just substitute “pink” for “blue” in the fourth line!)

When we got the news,
we had to call our families,
and start painting the room,
a nice, bright blue
our vows they started breathing
and they took on flesh and blood
and we held them in our arms
and tasted God was good

I fell in love with you,
and that love became something new
it added a name and it added a smile
it keeps getting bigger every further mile
there on your bended knee
we sowed the seeds of our history
they’re coming up stronger
than we ever could have longed
love keeps growing more love

Because you demanded it ...

(By Erik)

For several weeks now some of our regular blog readers have been requesting — nay, demanding — that we post a picture of pregnant Jeanie so they can marvel at … the fact that she’s got a baby inside of her, I’m guessing.

Well, we have heard your demands ...

and …

At long last …

Here’s a photo of ...

PREGNANT JEANIE!

TA-DAH!

Yep ...

Keep scrolling down ...

It's there ...

Promise ...



Yes, in case you’re wondering, I finally got the Simpsonizer to work on Jeanie’s photo. Then I made a few modifications to the end result to give her that “lived in” look (i.e. – a baby’s been living inside her).

Here’s a close-up of Jeanie’s Simpsonized alter-ego.



And here’s me again, for those of you who forgot what I looked like.



I even used Maggie’s ultrasound photo in the Simpsonizer. Here’s what it projected she will look like in a year or so …

Maggie, not Maggy

(By Erik)

I was recently informed by my wife that I have already managed to misspell our daughter’s name, even before she’s born. The spelling in the previous post should have been “Maggie,” not “Maggy.”

Of course, either of those spellings merely is an abbreviation for the child’s actual name, Margaret Jean. So I raised the question with Jeanie, “Can you misspell an abbreviation? Is that really possible?”

Evidently, it is. Apologies to my sweet Maggie. (Hey, at least I know how to spell your last name. How many people can say that?)

She continues to be abundantly active — rolling and kicking while Jeanie’s doctor tried to find a fetal heartbeat a few days ago.

She’s so active, in fact, that we become paranoid when she doesn’t move. This morning she missed her usual 5 a.m. kicking and rolling time, and immediately we envisioned her in distress, tied up in her umbilical cord, a victim of her own antics. In the back of my mind I know she’s fine, but I was hoping for news of a kick or a roll before I dropped Jeanie off at work. Life doesn’t always give you those little guarantees, alas.

Oh well. Just four more months until she’s born. Then I can stop worrying.

Right?

Little Maggy: Movin’ to the music

(By Erik)

“She likes this music.”

That’s what Jeanie said a couple of nights ago while we were watching TV. A commercial for the upcoming season of Desperate Housewives came on, featuring a song with a strong bass beat by Jennifer Lopez. Evidently, little Maggy (a.k.a. Josephina) liked the song, and started moving all over the place.

So that put it in my mind to try a little experiment. I gout out the iPod and put a pair of headphones over Maggy’s approximate location (Jeanie helped). Then we tried a variety of musical styles to see if we could get a reaction.

Keep in mind here that we’re treating any sort of movement as a fondness for the music and a lack of movement as dislike or disregard for the music. A member of our Bible study group recently mentioned that the inverse could be true. (Lack of movement is listening to the music and movement is an attempt to get away from it.)

So, with that in mind:

“These are Days,” 10,000 Maniacs — no reaction

“Ring of Fire,” Johnny Cash — no reaction

“Pour Some Sugar on Me,” Def Leppard — slight reaction

“Okie from Muskogee,” Merle Haggard — no reaction

“Ka Huila Wai,” Israel Kamakawiwo’ole — no reaction

“Jessica,” Allman Brothers — some reaction

“Akehlulek’ Ubaba (With God Everything is Possible),” Ladysmith Black Mambazo and Charlie Peacock — slight reaction

Theme to “Star Wars” — no reaction

So far, we just can’t top J Lo.

Gooooooo Dawgs! Sic 'em! Woof, woof, woof!

(By Erik)

Ah yes, football season is upon us, and tonight at 5:45 my Georgia Bulldogs kick off the action against — guess who — the Oklahoma State Cowboys. Usually Georgia football is an afterthought for most folks here in Soonerland, so it’s been a bit weird this year to see my team mentioned on the local news.

It’s also been encouraging to find that a few folks out here Oklahoma bleed red and black, just like me. News 9 meteorologist Zach Daniel got his bachelor’s from UGA and remains a die-hard bulldog fan. He even pulled out a Dawgs ball cap after doing the weather a couple of days ago, much to OSU grad Kelly Ogle’s chagrin.

Today’s ball game could be a tough one for the Dawgs. The Cowboys are better than most of the chump teams we play for season openers — and we don’t always give our best performance right out of the gate. I’ve got plenty of OSU fans lined up for some trash talk, should we lose. But I’m confident the Dawgs will rise to the challenge.

One piece of advice for Cowboy fans: Don’t get too comfortable, even if you get up on us 21-0 in the first 10 minutes. The Bulldogs play four quarters of football, and they don’t even get interested until they’re down by at least two touchdowns.

Win or lose, the greatest thing about being a Georgia fan is having the best coach in the nation — Mark Richt. The fact that he’s a great football coach isn’t nearly as important as the fact that he’s a great person. He and his wife, Katharyn, are members of the Prince Avenue Baptist Church in Athens, Ga., the same church my roommate Erik Benson attended when he was studying at UGA. Though those of us in Churches of Christ don’t always see eye-to-eye with Baptists on everything, you’ve got to admire the way the Richts live out their faith.

In addition to their two biological children, the couple adopted two children from a Russian orphanage. This summer the entire Richt clan made a mission trip to Honduras. (I’m hoping that me, Jeanie and little Josephina will do the same someday!)

John Helsley wrote a great piece on Mark Richt for The Oklahoman. Check it out.

And, once again, GO DAWGS!

Just kickin' back in the womb

(By Erik)

Little Josephina refused to go to sleep and was busily kicking her mother just around midnight. (As a guy, I’m absolutely fascinated by the prospect of being kicked from the inside. Crazy.)

I gave her a good talking to, but Jeanie said my insistence that she settle down was not heeded.

I’m guessing this is the beginning of many years of her not listening to me.

WHOOPS! (Pink or blue, part 2)

(By Erik)

We had the “official” ultrasound done today. (The previous one, when we discovered we were having a boy, was done by some medical residents on their lunch break.)

This one wasn’t going to be much of a surprise, but we were nervous nonetheless because this professional ultrasound would tell us if all of young Joseph’s vital organs were intact.

Everything looks good. We’re happy to report that the baby has a four-chambered heart, two working kidneys, a well-developed spine, arms, legs, hands feet, eyes … you name it.

As a matter of fact, there’s only one thing that’s missing from our little boy. He doesn’t have a …


Well, let’s put it this way …

IT’S A GIRL!

That’s right. Little Joseph is actually little Josephina.

The ultrasound technician asked us if we wanted to know the sex. We said, “Yeah, we already know, but tell us anyway.” The tech said, “OK, because I’m seein’ a girl here.”

“You’re seein’ a what now?”

Yeah, I guess you get what you pay for when it comes to free ultrasounds done by medical residents on their lunch hour. I still have the picture they printed us with an arrow pointing to an alleged … well … wee wee.

“So what was that that thing?” I asked Jeanie, somewhat bumfuzzled.

“Dunno. Could’ve just been the umbilical cord.”


(The alleged "thingy" sighting from a couple of weeks ago)

So, please consider this a blogging retraction. I’m still in a bit of a state of shock about it. As you can imagine, I told everyone I met in Africa that we’re having a boy. Both sets of parents have already bought little boy outfits. Jeanie’s dad already has a gun permit for young Joseph.

(That’s a joke, by the way. But oddly enough, now that she’s a girl, I suddenly want her to be well-armed.)

My world has gone from blue to pink in an instant. Now I’m the one who’s outnumbered. All I can see in front of me is countless hours at the mall, ponies and prom dresses.

But God is good, and I’m rejoicing that our daughter looks healthy and everything’s on schedule.

And Josephina is not her name, by the way. Jeanie and I have a few more rounds to go before we come up with a name. I really like Margaret — my grandma’s name. Jeanie remains convinced that all humans should have names beginning with “J,” however.

It’s good to be home.

(By Erik)

I’m back after a week-long trip to the African nation of Ghana. It was my fourth time in Africa, but my first in Ghana. I was covering a Christian school in the extreme western part of the country (just miles from the Ivory Coast) and visiting various other ministries, including Ghana Bible College in Kumasi and the Village of Hope outside the capital, Accra.

I’ve got lots of stories and photos to share, but that will have to wait. Currently my body is trying to tell me that it’s 2 in the morning, even though the clock says 9:30 p.m.

The biggest lesson I learned on this trip was to trust God. (It’s a lesson I’ve had to learn time and again. This was a refresher course!) There was about a day at the beginning of the trip when I didn’t know if anyone would be at the airport in Accra to meet me, thanks to a delay at Will Rogers Airport courtesy of Northworst — I mean Northwest — Airlines. But everything worked out OK. I’m trying to do a better job of stepping out in faith. It’s tough for a guy who likes everything planned down to the letter — at least in the realm of international travel.

Pink or blue?

(By Erik)

Drum roll, please.

The ultrasound results are in!

We are happy to report that our forthcoming child has:

• a healthy heartbeat,

• a rather large noggin (most Tryggestads do)

• and a …

Well, let’s put it this way — it’s a boy!

(We would have been thrilled either way, rest assured.)

For me, though, this is huge. Jeanie is officially outnumbered and (at last) can be out-voted on trips to the mall (assuming the boy votes my way). She may retain her veto power on restaurant selection, however. Not sure how that’s going to play out.

Our working title, by the way: Joseph Thomas Tryggestad

Playing 'Tag'

(By Erik)

Bobby and then Stacey both recently challenged us in a game of Internet “tag.” The object of this game is to post eight random facts about yourself to your blog, and then to tag eight additional people and force them to perform the same activity, thereby assuring that the Internet will be filled with random facts, and that no one will have access to useful information — such as tables depicting the number of ways Chuck Norris can perform a roundhouse kick to the face.

I personally approach such games with suspicion, for I am almost sure they were initiated by identity thieves. Why else, I ask you, would they require eight random facts? It is a well-known truth that the human mind is capable of generating only five — plus or minus two — random facts at a time. Requiring eight almost assures that the writer will, in fact, run out of facts. Then, in a moment of weakness, he will type out his credit card number as his final fact to be done with the activity. Point, game and match, you crafty thieves.

The rules of this contest are heretofore given, as the reprinting of them is a requirement of this time-consuming activity.

1. Players start with eight random facts about themselves.

2. Those who are tagged should post these rules and their eight random facts.

3. Players should tag eight other people and notify them they have been tagged.

Seems that there also should be eight rules for this exercise. Nonetheless …

1. If money were no object, I’d have lots of it. Lots and lots of it.

2. I’m often accused of ruining the plots of movies I haven’t seen.

3. Whenever I eat at Red Lobster, I pretend I’m eating at a Red Lobster across town.

4. There are 28.5 other things I should be doing right now instead of this.

5. In his epic poem “The Waste Land,” T.S. Eliot wrote, “April is the cruelest month.” He was, of course, lying. The cruelest month was, in fact, Bodgvember. This cruelest of months, which fell between August and September, was deemed so cruel that it was removed from the calendar entirely in the 1980s. During this month, wars began, cars stalled, babies cried and antelopes around the world looked just a bit sadder than they usually do. Bodgvember, though it was only eight days long, had a reputation for cruelty so great that people would put themselves into prolonged states of hibernation for its duration. “Don’t bother me, it’s Bodgvember,” became a popular door hanger slogan, although it led to a slew of home invasions and burglaries, which, of course, only affirmed the month’s utter cruelty. Hitler, Stalin and Carrot Top were born in Bodgvember. Finally, in a top-secret meeting in the Hague, the leaders of the free world banned together to eliminate Bodgvember and erase its memory from everyone’s mind. (Contrary to popular belief, freemasons had nothing to do with this, nor did the Osmonds.) The eight days of Bodgvember were split between August and September, which is why, during those days (Aug. 28-31 and Sept. 1-4) many people find themselves incapable of enjoying life, or at least incapable of enjoying any sort of gelatin-based dessert.

6. That previous random fact had nothing to do with me personally.

7. I am not allowed within 200 feet of Joe Don Baker. A court order prevents me from discussing why.

8. My credit card number is 8976 9876 5432 1110.

Microphone feedback and crying babies

(By Erik)

That’s about all I could hear when I got up to preach Sunday night at Memorial Road. But it got better.

To be fair, Randon warned me that, if I used the lapel mic, there might be some problems. I should have gone with the handheld instead, but I had some arm motions I needed to do as part of the sermon.

Luckily, we’ve got great audio guys at church. They worked out the feedback issue pretty quickly after I got started. I could still hear myself through the monitors on stage, I think, and that was a strange experience.

It was a rewarding, yet nerve-wracking, experience. But I’m thrilled that I got the chance to do it.

If you want to hear the audio of the sermon, follow this link to the RealPlayer version.

Or try the Windows media version.

(I'd listen to it myself, but I can't stand the sound of my own voice. Plus, I was there.)

Scott Franks did a great introductory sermon for the series, by the way.

Most of the folks I’ve talked to said they liked the sermon. Jeanie was a bit embarrassed that I announced that we’re expecting to all 1,000 or so people at once, but I assured her that, as I watched the faces in the auditorium, I didn’t see one expression of surprise.

After all, it’s been on the blog for weeks now.